One end of the flash cable was connected to the single X connector on the lens, and the other goes to the "Shutter" connector on the flash body. The flash body was set to "N". The exposure was 1/125 f8 at 10 feet on ISO 125 film, but the shots came out grossly underexposed (i.e., extremely thin negatives, almost useless).

I wouldn't have thought my exposure was that far wrong, so I suspect either that I'm setting up the gear incorrectly or I haven't got the right combination to make this work. (For example, some things I've read online imply that I need a solenoid which I don't have.)

Flash bulb photography is new to me, I'm used to using electronic flashes but I'd like to learn how to the "old style" flash photos.

I intend to try some more experiments but I don't want to use up too many flash bulbs, I can't source them locally so they work out fairly expensive for me.

Does anyone have any advice for where I'm going wrong?

Thanks.

P.S. I should mention in case it's not clear; yes, I'm certain the flash did fire on each occasion, it's blindingly bright and impossible to miss!

Last edited by gyron on Sun Aug 14, 2011 12:05 am; edited 1 time in total

Thanks for the pointer, that thread does have lots of interesting information. It sounds like my lens/shutter can be modified to do what I need but I fear that process would be beyond me.

As bruiser suggests, I'm going to look for a Graphex shutter & lens & lensboard, once I get my head around what's involved. If that fails I'll consider buying a second Crown for flash photography and keep my current one for daylight photography.

Suggest you try one exposure at same aperture and distance but with a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. That should leave the shutter open long enough for the flashbulb to come up to full brightness.

That's a good idea, I'll try it. If nothing else it'll be interesting to see the different result with some different shutter speeds. And I'm less likely to make a mess of that than I would be trying to fit and calibrate a solenoid

A belated follow-up. I finally had the opportunity to try C.Henry's suggestion:

gyron wrote:

C. Henry wrote:

Suggest you try one exposure at same aperture and distance but with a shutter speed of 1/30 or slower. That should leave the shutter open long enough for the flashbulb to come up to full brightness.

That's a good idea, I'll try it. If nothing else it'll be interesting to see the different result with some different shutter speeds. And I'm less likely to make a mess of that than I would be trying to fit and calibrate a solenoid

In particular, I ended up testing 1/250, 1/125, 1/60, 1/30, 1/15 and 1/8. All with the original settings, ie f8 on ISO125 at 10 feet, using Number 5 bulbs.

I understand that the root cause of my problems is that the peak of the flash bulb output doesn't match my shutter opening, but I was trying to work around the problem by using a longer shutter speed. I got a good range of results from this experiment;

1/30 is a good usable image, but a little underexposed. Quite usable though.

1/15 looks good.

1/8 looks very similar to 1/15, no real noticable difference (at least not one that I can discern without a densitometer)

So for now I'll stick with shooting this camera & flash setup at 1/15 assuming the other parameters, but it'd probably be more practical to use ISO400 film at a shutter speed of 1/60. (I'm using B&W film that I'm developing myself, so I have a fair bit of latitude.)

It's not an ideal solution but at least I can now do some flash photography until I either do a solenoid modification or I change the lens & shutter. Now all I need is to find a source of number 5 bulbs that will ship to me, I've almost run out

T don't know how much it will cost to ship, but Pacific Rim Camera in Oregon, USA charges $15.00 U.S. for a box of 12 press 25 or 5 bulbs. Best price I've found. I also picked up a HR solenoid for my CG (GRAPHEX X Contacts) for $15.00 U.S. Overall quite pleased with items purchased, and fast service. I even traded some AG1's for two boxes of 25's.